Laboratory diagnosis of acute measles infections in hospitalized children in Zambia
Oshitani, H.; Suzuki, H.; Mpabalwani, M.; Mizuta, K.; Kasolo, F.C.; Luo, N.P.; Numazaki, Y.
Tropical Medicine and International Health Tm and Ih 2(7): 612-616
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 1360-2276 PMID: 9270728 DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.1997.d01-346.xDocument Number: 269438
Laboratory diagnosis of measles infection is rarely performed in developing countries and tends to depend on clinical symptoms alone. We evaluated detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies for confirmation of acute measles infection in Zambia. In 149 hospitalized children with clinical diagnosis of measles, IgM antibodies were detected in 88.6% (132/I49). The IgM-positive rate increased with time after onset of skin rash and all samples were positive after 4 days. In addition to IgM antibody test, virus isolations from throat swabs using B95a cells were also performed. These were positive in only 20.9% (14/67), and both IgM and virus isolation in combination increased the positive rate to 92.5% (62/67). Vaccinated children had higher neutralizing (Nt) antibody responses and, among IgM-negative patients, all 4 vaccinated children had high Nt antibodies while all to unvaccinated children had negative or low Nt results. The IgM antibody test was proved to be a sensitive method for laboratory confirmation of measles virus infection in developing countries.